1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic apparatus such as computers and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to computer bay structures used to removably receive various module devices such as, for example, batteries, floppy disk drives, CD ROM drives, hard disk drives and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
The base housing portion of a modern notebook computer is commonly provided with an internal bay area configured to operatively and interchangeably receive one of several modular devices such as, for example, a floppy disk drive, a hard disk drive, a CD ROM drive or a battery. These modules are typically of varying sizes, and the bay area must be physically sized, from a cross-sectional standpoint, to accept the largest one of the several designed-for modules useable with the computer. The selected modular device is operatively inserted rearwardly into the internal computer bay area through an insertion opening formed in an outer wall section of the base housing, with a front portion of the inserted module being disposed within at least a portion of the insertion opening.
Due to the sizing of the insertion opening to accommodate the largest modular device which the bay can operatively accept, an aesthetic problem arises--namely, how to cover the unblocked "gap" left in the exterior housing insertion opening when one of the smaller modular devices is removably placed into the bay area. Several solutions to this problem have been previously utilized but have not proven to be entirely satisfactory.
One such previously proposed solution has been to provide a sliding close-off door member on the front end of the smaller module. When the module is inserted into the bay the door is slid outwardly from the module to cover the insertion opening gap. This undesirably requires the user to perform a two-step process when inserting the module--namely, placing the module into the bay area and then adjusting the module's door member to close off the resulting insertion opening gap.
A second previously proposed solution has been to provide the bay insertion opening itself with a sliding or flip-up door structure that is manually moved across the insertion opening gap after the smaller module is inserted into the internal computer bay area. This also undesirably requires the user to perform a two-step process when inserting the module--placing the module into the bay area and then moving the housing door across the insertion area gap.
A third previously proposed solution has been to attach a front close-off bezel structure to the front end of the smaller module, the bezel structure having a portion which projects outwardly beyond the front end of the module and is positioned to close off the insertion opening gap when the smaller module is operatively inserted into the bay area. This solution is cosmetically unappealing, and further requires that each module bay area in the computer be of the same size so as to accommodate this bezel structure. Additionally, the attached bezel structure undesirably increases the storage and transport size of the overall module.
It is to these problems associated with closing off the unoccupied gap area in a module bay insertion opening that the present invention is directed.